since my mom left the comp on for me to use, why not? carpe diem. hehh..

due to recency effect, i shall start off with what i had been doing today. actually it struck me only this morning that today is thanksgiving day!.. i wanted to be home for dinner on thanksgiving, but today being a Friday, it's also a pre-planned day out between me n Dd, to go to the Art Museum (yea, poor ppl must make full use of free admission. :P). so since 2nd bro never replied whether he would b back home for dinner, i just went out with my fren. anyway, it's not tradition in my family to celebrate thanksgiving day.

the art visit was okay. we browsed thru some of the older exhibits that i saw before, those of the local/regional artists, but this was also because we could not locate where the gallery hosting Gao Xingjian work was. finally we went to the right place, but it was so different. okie, perhaps my glasses had been tainted by the dinner conversation yesterday with S and P (btw, thanks P for organizing the dine-out tgether. :)). still most of his work somehow did not match with what he entitled it. Dd said probably he was famous for his writing, then only his painting became acceptable. and we had a couple of good laughs trying to think what some of them look like to us. by far, we are not very informed art critics, i admit, but even amateurs have their own mind to say about art.

but to give the man a fair fight on an equal ground, i will try some of his writings one of these days. n i do like some of his works, esp the effect of sandy beaches that he has in some paintings. they are like ripples of sand touched by the waves. n after reading what he wanted to represent in his art, one can applaud him for his noble notion, n try to comprehend the black, the white and the murkiness of them all.

on a less troubling note, this morning i bumped into someone who i thought i would never see again. he's the sales rep from Pearson that my ex-boss from the bookshop used to tease me about. well, he's a good-looking sort, so it was really a pleasant surprise to see him again. alas, he remembered me not, and i had to explain where i used to work once, and we did not get to talk long. haiz.. but that made my day.. *grinz...

as for yest, after S left, what would two girls do in city hall? instead of the usual 'shop till you drop', we opted for 'walk till you drop'.. grinz.. we went walking around though there is not much Christmas lighting to see there. i like the big golden Christmas tree in front of Raffles City. makes me feel like ppl shd gather under the tree on Christmas eve, sing carols, do countdown and light up the tree at the count of twelve. :) somehow i think i will miss not having Christmas in Spore...

speaking of which, the Christmas lighting at Orchard is not that spectacular.. the standard has downgraded yet again. what a sad thing! gone is the grandeur of yesteryears!.. sad sad..

money woes

(no, it doesnt sound uplifting,
in fact, i may need facelifting..)

haiz.. tried booking hotels for the past week for my Christmas stay in HK. first few nights would b okie cos sharing an apartment with my sis-in-law's colleague, onli had to look for hotel stay for both Christmas eve n Christmas nite. so tried hotel A, fully booked.. tried hotel B, fully booked.. [goodness!].. tried hotel C, fully booked too... n tt's not all.. online booking requires to put the money in my account on hold, n they dun do immediate transfer once my booking has been cancelled. *pulls hair* so now, got quite a sum of money that i can see but cant touch.. *ouch*...

called the bank just now.. yea, i'm so desperate as to call the bank on a Sunday.. n the lady was nice enough to tell me to fax over the void slips tmr n they will offset the money back into my account on the very same day. *phew* n normally, if there's no action taken, they will wait for 8 working days before putting the money back into my account.. *gag*.. can u imagine that?!

got a not very good news oso that my bonus may not come in until next year. was hoping to get that by tis month then i can spend a lil more lavishly in my HK trip. o well, perhaps i m meant to be more jimat cermat then.. n heck, if i can do it for less than S$500 in Tokyo over a stay of 9 days. i believe HK wld b okie.. jus that there wld b 2 mouths to feed.. :S i need to save more money to travel safe n in style next time.. hahaa... which wld b very long away cos, after HK, there's a negative balance in my off days.. haa... :P

mm.. something more enlightening, but still very related to work.. last night, i was telling LexC, PR n YC that i can wash glassware until they are very clean.. then they all laughed.. onli today i found out how untrue that self-proclaimed statement was... a few bottles still had stains in them after autoclaving.. sigh.. one must revise her skills at times n eat the humble pie.. ;P

all work and no play makes sze yung a dull girl.. :(

been busy with work lately. down with cough too. but not horrible enough to claim MC. *thank God* grinz... yea, i rmbr the time when i wished i was so sick that i cant come to work. now i jus feel the social discomfort that i may spread to others. but looks like no one in my lab is getting sick. *thank God again*

oyea, mus welcome my new blog visitors from my workplace - my two postgrad frens. hehh.. well, so much for bitching bout work. now hv to say onli good things bout work. :P no lah... they know as much as i do what research life is like. haiz..

o well.. so much for updates.. this is all i hv to say for now: back to work!

life is sad, aint it? :P
will bring more uplifting news next time. :)

buzZ of the day:

my M1 bill reach a bottom low of $31.86 for the month of Oct!!

Laughs for today:
(over a phone call about going to an ex-colleague's house for hari raya)

Me: *(name of a guy)* is also coming later. We're going together.
Caller: Are you both together now?
Me: Hahaha.. No lah..

--End--

i'm back!!! back from where, u ask? hee.. well, simply back blogging, tt's all.. :P

anyway, been really busy while momie was away. stayed 2 nights over at labbie.. stimes i think i'm mad, esp on the 2nd time, i told myself tt there wasnt any need for me to stay over. i cld hv jus off the machine n run it again tmr morning.. but well, i'm jus being stubborn, tt's all... come think of it, i kinda miss working alone at nights.. i feel that i can do more work when no one is ard.. haha.. a lab person likes a loner's world.. well, jus that my safety manager may hv a word to say bout this, if he ever so realise that i'm alone in the lab..

well, the 2 weeks when momie was away, i managed to catch up with a load of friends. it's good to bitch bout work, with those who are in the same field as me, n to bitch bout old times, back in school days with my batchmaties.. good to see my fren's boyfren (yaya.. i admit i'm a lil keh-poh.. :P).. good to go thru the DISC cycle to find out that once again i'm landed in the S-type.. *grinz.. some things jus never changed..

oh, oso good to be back in NUS for one rainy Sunday.. to go over to Arts forum, jus to discover that evrything still look pretty much the same, despite the alterations.. forum jus hv a new flooring, but still keep to the same stifling vacuum of nothingness.. central lib did not add much beauty with its completed outdoor tiles from the last time i saw its complete new change-over.. engine fac will never change.. brought me back to old times when i went up engine bridge, near LT4 where i used to cram in my study hours near exams; and to the far end where the university hall used to be, where the pavilion raised 7 floors from above the ground, where i witnessed a surprise bday party to my then cell leader, where FK n i speculated bout female engineers with long hair.. ah, those were the days.. so that summed up one nostalgic rainy Sunday..

then last weekend was a good time of learning n reflecting.. it is said that nothing can be learnt without reflection.. i went for this service-learning course organized by TOUCH, n as i said, it was a good time of learning, practical learning, that is. i never knew that games could be utilized for learning. tt's sth new, n sth i can put down to use in my GB work. i'll highly encourage u peeps to go for a service-learning course.. i also gather as much meaning to the usual warning that i give to my girls: don't just go through the motion; and a new meaning to live life intentionally. :)

tt's my report for this week. spent the whole of yesterday at home, resting n zzZ-ing.. hee.. altogether a lazy day. i expect a lazy week ahead too. momie's back, so what can i say? i won't need to cook or do much house chores now.. hee.. not that i did a lot while she was away.. :P